My experiment (long) wasRe: SC - Help with old recipe (OOP)

[Lilinah biti-Anat]

Peldyn wrote:
> How do
>you get the itty bitty bits of lemon zest that have been grated off the
>grater??

Toothpicks. You can poke them into the holes and get all the zest out.

>After a bit of swearing I added
>the sugar to the apples and the feeble bit of lemon zest in the pot and
>brought it to a simmer. I let it simmer until the apples were tender, about
>10 minutes. I beat the one egg and added a bit of the apple mixture to it
>mixing well and then threw it into the pot stirring as fast as I could. I let
>it simmer a little more, picking out the bits of egg that had coagulated. The
>egg addition didn't seem to have worked out well. The mixture didn't thicken
>and I detested picking out the egg bits. I put it in the fridge to see if
>cooling it down would thicken it some.

I'd suggest, cook the apples longer until almost apple buttery, but 
still with some texture, then let it cool a bit. If the apple stuff 
is too hot and/or you put the pan with the egg on too high a heat, 
the eggs will curdle.

So when the apples are not too hot (you can comfortably put your 
finger into it), stir a bit of apple into the egg yolk and mix it 
well to warm it, then add more apple and stir. And maybe add a bit 
more apple... Then stir the egg into the apple, put the pan on a 
*low* fire, and stir constantly until the egg thickens. When i've 
made custardy stuff, like creme Anglaise, i have to have all my 
attention on the custard so the egg won't set - that means never stop 
stirring and adjust the fire if it's too hot.

>I then
>tried to beat the eggs whites. I beat them for about 20 minutes on the
>highest speed of my mixer. Try as I might I could only get about half of the
>egg whites to foam. I ended up with nice stiff peaks on the top and liquid
>egg on the bottom!!!

Try a hand whisk - i've used them to make whipped cream (and boy was 
my arm tired :-), and to whip egg whites. And do it in a bowl that 
has a curve from bottom to rim, not one that's flat on the bottom. 
And make sure the bowl is absolutely greaseless, too. Think of it as 
exercise :-)

>One strange comment
>I got from my husband was, "What did you put in the filling, appleslaw?" The
>grated pieces of apple were a bit slawlike in texture, I agree. I might try
>the food processor next time.

Sounds like you might need to cook the apples down a bit more before 
filling the cake.

Well, that sounds like a tasty experiment!

Anahita Gauri al-shazhiya bint-Karim al-hakim al-Fassi

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